Creative Action in Organizations
Ivory Tower Visions and Real World Voices
Edited by:
- Cameron M. Ford - Groupe ESC Lyon
- Dennis A. Gioia - Pennsylvania State University, USA
July 1995 | 424 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
"A strong point in this book is its opening extensive review of creativity in organizations and professions. . . including helpful tabulations of articles that identify the motives, expectations, emotions, means, and opportunities that lead to creative acts. . . . it can provide valuable insights and encouragement to scholars and practitioners who are concerned with developing and tapping creativity in organizations. . . . Management professors and graduate students will find the book helpful. . . ."
--G. David Hughes in
Journal of Product Innovation Management
"This book definitely will be appropriate for class use in any setting focused on creativity in organizations. Presumably, these would be specialized upper-division, MBA, or Ph.D. electives. If you are interested in the topic of creativity in organizations, this is the book you must read. It is on the frontiers, and it provides a beacon for future scholarly progress on this topic because of its emphasis on how the organizational setting affects the creative process in the world of work."
--Lyman Porter,
University of California, Irvine
"The book is itself a creative approach to creativity. The editors have attracted a talented and well-respected group of academic contributors. The message that we should abandon the romantic but flawed notion that creativity is principally the product of extraordinary individual acts is delivered forcefully, as is the companion notion that organizational contexts are the real seedbeds of creative behavior."
--John R. Kimberly, Henry Bower Professor,
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
"This is one of the better collections of information about creativity because it is data based, and it provides a useful comparison and contrast of conceptual and practical aspects. By clearly describing the benefits and problems associated with the topics, Creative Action in Organizations obviously practices what it preaches. I would recommend that it be used as a textbook for a graduate-level business course, particularly for an MBA program. In addition, I also recommend that it be used as a text reference for industrial 'training & development' programs targeted at teaching employees how to develop new businesses, improve existing processes, or become better leaders (viz., corporate leadership development programs)."
--Tom Wojcik,
Manager, Office of Innovation,
Hoechst Celanese Corporation
Between the trade deficit, mergers, and the recession, the topic of creativity in organizations has become one of increasing importance. How does a company retool or refine its product with foreign and, often, less costly competition? How does human resources find creative solutions to budgeting, product development, marketing, and training? With pithy and engaging chapters from leading researchers and figures in business, government, and academia, Creative Action in Organizations explores the factors that are critical to the development and promotion of creativity to develop a revised view that is grounded in experience. This volume begins with a literature review (written as a mystery to be solved), followed by essays from researchers (Part II) and practitioners (Part III). Using the chapters as "data," the editors conclude with a content-analysis that presents a look at the most significant themes and offers a framework for conceptualizing creativity in organizations.
This profound and fascinating volume is essential for students, professionals, and researchers in management and organization studies, public administration, public policy, evaluation, and psychology, as well as libraries in the above areas.
PART ONE: CONTEMPLATING CREATIVE ACTION IN ORGANIZATIONS
Cameron M Ford and Dennis A Gioia
Multiple Visions and Multiple Voices
Cameron M Ford
Creativity is a Mystery
PART TWO: IVORY TOWER VISIONS
Jay A Conger
Boogie down Wonderland
Richard W Woodman
Managing Creativity
Harry Nystrom
Creativity and Entrepreneurship
Michael A West
Creative Values and Creative Visions in Teams at Work
Teresa M Amabile
Discovering the Unknowable, Managing the Unmanageable
Nigel King
Individual Creativity and Organizational Innovation
Dean Keith Simonton
Creativity as Heroic
Daniel J Brass
Creativity
Nirma Kl Sethia
The Role of Collaboration in Creativity
William H Starbuck
How Organizations Channel Creativity
Edwin A Locke and Shelley A Kirkpatrick
Promoting Creativity in Organizations
Peter J Frost
The Many Facets of Creativity
Fariborz Damanpour
Is Your Creative Organization Innovative?
Robert W Weisberg
Training Creativity in the Corporation
James L Farr
Q: Does Feedback Enhance or Inhibit Creativity in Organizations? A: Yes!
Connie J G Gersick
Everything New under the Gun
Craig C Lundberg
Creativity Training and Hemispheric Function
Dag Björkengren
Management of Cultural Innovations
Barry M Staw
Why No One Really Wants Creativity
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Keith Sawyer
Shifting the Focus from Individual to Organizational Creativity
Robert J Sternberg and Todd I Lubart
Ten Tips toward Creativity in the Workplace
Kristian Kreiner and Majken Schultz
Creative Post-Processing
Karl E Weick
Creativity and the Aesthetics of Imperfection
PART THREE: REAL WORLD VOICES
F Ben Jones
The Changing Face of Creativity
Pedro Cuatrecasas
Corporate America
Russell C Ford
Coaching Your Way to Creativity
Delbert H Jacobs
Creating a Creativity Revolution
Alexander MacLachlan
Creativity in a Large Company
Isaac R Barpal
Creativity by Decree - A New Approach
Philip X Masciantonio
Creativity and Innovation
Wellington E Webb
Creativity in Government
John Engler
The Challenge of Reinventing State Government
George Heard
Creativity Today
R Larry Wuench
Are You Creating Solutions or Problems?
Thoralf Ulrik Qvale
Organizing for Innovation
Timothy F Price
Principle-Based Creativity
Walter L Robb
Membranes for Gas Separation
Norman P Findley
Why Do You Have to Go `Off-Campus' to Get Creative?
Karl-Erik Sveiby
The Pro-Team
Carole F St Mark
Fostering Creativity in Large Organizations
C Jackson Gray
Creativity at Woolworth Corporation
Norman E Johnson
Acquiring and Managing Creative Talent
F E Bailey and James R Bailey
Creativity through Self-Appraisal
Terry O'Connor
Organizing for Creativity
Robert Michael Burnside
Ideas Dancing in the Human Being
Alan G Chynoweth
Gee Whiz! - So What?
PART FOUR: UNDERSTANDING AND INFLUENCING CREATIVITY IN ORGANIZATIONS
Dennis A Gioia
Contrasts and Convergences in Creativity
Cameron M Ford
Striking Inspirational Sparks and Fanning Creative Flames
Cameron M Ford and Dennis A Gioia
Guidelines for Creative Action Taking in Organizations